Oklahoma amusement company owner is target of gambling inquiry

Investigators allege an Oklahoma man supplied illegal slot machines to bars and lodges across the state for years, befriending and possibly bribing law enforcement officials to look the other way.

Investigators allege an Oklahoma man supplied illegal slot machines to bars and lodges across the state for years, befriending and possibly bribing law enforcement officials to look the other way.

The target of the federal criminal investigation is identified in search warrant records as Adlai S. Brinkley, 52, owner of Star Amusement Inc. He has not been charged.

From 2009 through 2012, he and his wife, Pamela, deposited $40,000 to $80,000 a month in cash into their bank account, the records show.

Those deposits totaled more than $4 million.

Adlai Brinkley’s attorney, Mark Henricksen, of El Reno, said Friday, "I really appreciate you giving me a chance to comment. I just can’t at this time."

Federal agents and Canadian County sheriff’s deputies last March raided Charlie B’s Bar, the Elks Lodge, Gilmore’s Pub & Barefoot Bar, the Veterans of Foreign Wars post and the American Legion post in El Reno. There, they seized gaming machines and cash.

The American Legion post had 37 machines in its gaming room, an inventory shows.

Federal agents also searched Brinkley’s home in Union City, seizing bags of U.S. currency, gold coins and silver coins. They also searched Star Amusement offices in El Reno.

The illegal gambling took place pretty much openly at bars, lodges and veterans’ posts, investigators reported.

"Don’t tell anybody," an employee at the American Legion post in El Reno told an undercover federal agent in 2012, according to the records. "This is private. We are not Indians."

Background

Adlai Brinkley took over the illegal business after his uncle and cousin pleaded guilty in 1990 to conspiring to defraud the government, investigators allege.

Both the uncle and cousin went to federal prison and forfeited $1.1 million to the federal government.

"For the past 22 years, Adlai Brinkley continuously has been the head of a large-scale, illegal gambling enterprise operating throughout the state … with the base of operations located at Star Amusement … in El Reno," a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security wrote in a 77-page court affidavit filed last year.

"He has created personal relationships with numerous influential individuals including law enforcement personnel throughout the state," agent Eric B. Coburn wrote. "Based on these relationships, Brinkley has been able to operate the illegal gambling enterprise in view of the public without fear of law enforcement intervention.

"Information … indicates that Brinkley also may be involved in public corruption activities, which has shielded him from prosecution, as well," Coburn wrote.

Helping in the investigation has been Canadian County Sheriff Randall Edwards, who was first elected in 2008 after pledging to clean up illegal gambling in the county.

A source told a Canadian County sheriff’s lieutenant in 2009 that "Brinkley has had dealings with the former sheriffs in several surrounding counties and has ‘paid off’ (bribed) a sheriff in a northeast county," according to the search warrant affidavit.

The source said Brinkley purchased two Harley-Davidson motorcycles for a sheriff in southwest Oklahoma "because he owed the sheriff," according to the affidavit.

The source also said Brinkley once delivered a bowling bag filled with cash to a local sheriff’s department and stated that he "took care of the man," according to the affidavit.

The court documents reveal investigators went undercover a number of times over the past decade to play the electronic games in El Reno bars, lodges and veterans’ posts.

Agents counted 16 slot machines in the Elks Lodge in El Reno during surveillance on the last visit there Feb. 8.

One undercover agent put $20 into a game called "Snap Shot" and won $150, according to the court documents.

Gamblers at the Elks Lodge were provided free drinks while playing.

The same undercover agent won $344 on Feb. 8 after putting $20 into the "Soaring Wings" device at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in El Reno, the court documents show.

Unsealing documents

A judge initially sealed the search warrant documents. They later were unsealed so Adlai Brinkley’s attorney could review them.

The Oklahoman learned the search warrants had been unsealed when a former American Legion official was charged last week with embezzlement. He is accused of misappropriating ceremonial World War II rifles.

That former official allegedly sold the guns to Adlai Brinkley.

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